


Scratch, Sniff and Make it a Date

by Osservare



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Department Store, Freewood - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 12:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4565454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osservare/pseuds/Osservare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Suffice to say Gavin hated working in August. One day at RT Outlets, he finds himself working the perfume department? A handsome man wanders into the store looking for a “gift” and Gavin is the only one available to help. As good-looking as this individual may be, man is he an asshole. </p>
<p>Or is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scratch, Sniff and Make it a Date

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by my lovely goneallgammy/lostinthehaywoods!

He hated August. It was the time of end-of-summer sales and school outfit shopping sprees. Luckily for him, his station was that one Customer Service desk located in the middle of the Junior’s department. 

Last Saturday, the store was swamped. The desk was constantly surrounded by customers with near mob mentality, a moat of people always around him. His fingers felt numb from the hundreds of clothing pieces he had to fold and he was tired of the security tags sticking him when he removed them from the cloth. Still, always need to have a bright and sunny disposition when interacting with their paying customers. He lost count of the number of mother-daughter pairs walking up to the register; many times he’d catch the daughter try and discretely shoot a smoldering look at him over their mother’s shoulders. Other times it was the mothers who got a little chattier than he’d like. It was the accent, his co-workers would always say. Well, suffice to say, many of the clientele did not appeal to him. Several of the younger women would strut through the clothes racks showing a bit too much skin and many of the older women would smell of strong perfume, possibly to hide the stench of sweat from the Texas heat. 

“Gavin!” 

Said man startled from his retrospection of the last weekend to see his friendly purple haired co-worker walking towards his desk. 

“What are you doing over here, Meg?” he asked at her appearance beside the counter.

Her smile was brilliant as she beamed at her friend, “I, uh, actually came over to ask a favor. Something came up at home and I need to head out. Could you cover for me at the perfume department?”

At first Gavin just looked at her funny, the thought of the other woman playing a practical joke on him passing his mind. However, Meg didn’t change her demeanor to indicate any form of jest. “What?! No! I don’t bloody know anything about perfume!”

Meg leaned across the counter, brandishing her weapon: her pout. “Please, Gavin! There’s only two of us working the department and we’re at the front of the mall entrance! Plus, it looks like there’s no one here right now.”

It was true, unlike the weekend, the weekdays were deserted. Maybe twenty customers tops had floated passed his view this morning. Only a singular head could be seen above the racks and there was another check out inside the department by the jeans.

“But I’m not good around that much glass! Remember September when I bumped that shelf and-“

“I called my back up, but Ashley won’t get here for another hour,” she further reasoned.

With a reluctant sigh, Gavin agreed, “Ugh, fine. But you owe me bevs next week.”

“Deal!” Meg said cheerfully, already digging through her purse for keys. “Thanks again, Gavin!”

With much regret, Gavin radioed Barbara in Junior’s of his temporary absence to which she cracked some stupid nose pun. “God damn it, Barb!”

Immediately, the mixture of high and low end perfumes assaulted his senses as he approached the perfume department. That sweet yet strong smell hung like a cloud around the various counters. Meg was right, only Lindsay was wandering the floor aimlessly. Her eyes were glued to the department store entrance to the mall in order to catch any stragglers that happened to wander in. Gavin left the red-haired woman to her work and took his station behind one of the larger glass counters displaying five different perfume companies. Hopefully it would be just about as busy as the winter coat department this time of year…

About the time Gavin’s nose adjusted to the smells and he had familiarized himself with the basics of the products at his counter, he heard Lindsay’s voice a little ways away, “Of course, sir! Someone will be able to help you near the escalators.”

Up near the front of the store, Gavin could see a man conversing with Lindsay. He had broad shoulders and groomed sandy blonde hair. Most odd was the tailored, sharp black suit jacket the man was clad in. As he approached, shining black loafers clicked on the laminate floor with a pair of smart slacks matching the jacket sitting on slim hips. It was a bit formal for a mall setting, but on the other hand, the department store was more on the high end.

Realizing he spent too much time gawking at the admittedly handsome man’s appearance, Gavin hurried to look busy, feeling slightly flustered when greeting the customer, “Hello. Welcome to RT Outlets. How can I help you?”

Addressing the stranger directly, Gavin couldn’t help but note the clear blue of the other man’s eyes. He briefly considered the possibility that they rivaled the bright blue of the Texas summer sky. He also noticed some slight scruff lining a strong jaw. Honestly, his face could be a model on one of their adverts.

“Hmmm, hope I’m not interrupting your lounging. You seemed to be quite…relaxed.”

_Okay, asshole. Calm down_ , Gavin bit back bitterly in his head. Is this man telling him he’s lazy? _Guess looks aren’t everything to go off of. Probably just another rich snob who needs to get the wife something pretty._

Still smiling cheerfully, although a bit tightly, Gavin responded without missing a beat, “Not at all, sir. What may I do for you today?”

Looking at his client, Gavin noticed that the man had a slightly chagrined look on his face. _What was wrong now?_

Seemingly taken aback by the clerks continued hospitality, the man stuttered out, “Ah, yes. I’m here to look at some perfumes.”

_Obviously_. “You’ve come to the right place, sir! Anything in particular?” Gavin began to apply his top customer service skills despite how aggravated this customer made him. Of course, the man doesn’t offer any aid besides a headshake.

“I would recommend the RUBY set if you’d like some diversity. There are four to a set and one of them is this lovely rose scented perfume in here.” Gavin recommended, pulling out the sample box from behind the counter and showcasing it. “Would you like to a sample spray, sir?”

The man instantly looked offended, taking a step away from the counter as if Gavin were to spray him right there on the spot. Please, he had some tact. Gavin whipped out a stock paper strip and squirted some of the liquid onto the end, offering it to the man to sniff.

Clasping it between two fingers, wary of touching the wet surface, the man took it off Gavin’s hands and gave it a whiff, a pleasantly surprised expression replacing a slightly concerned one. 

Gavin couldn’t hear much, but the man began to mumble to himself. “ _Hmmm, this isn’t bad…maybe he’ll like it…_ ”

From the snippet of words he caught, Gavin thought darkly, _“He?” Seems I was wrong. Not a wife. Wonder what he did wrong._

“Can I see the bottle?”

Now Gavin fought the urge to drop his ever present smile, disappointed in not hearing even a slight acknowledgement of the gentle aroma of the Rose perfume. Even more so, he hesitated on handing the man the bottle, the store policy urging not to in order to prevent theft. The bottle was nearly empty and it was him and Lindsay against one guy, so Gavin decided it was acceptable.

“Sure.” He gently placed the tiny bottle on the glass counter top, unnerved by the clinking sound the fragile bottle made with the surface. 

As the man went about inspecting the item, Gavin went to fish another product. “A favorite of mine-“

“What are the-“

Both men spoke at the same time, and both ended up yielding in polite silence. Gavin, following his employee guidelines, remained quiet in order for the customer to continue. It seemed the other man had similar thoughts.

_First he interrupts me, now he won’t tell me what he’s saying._

Surprisingly, the man places the bottle back on the counter. “Uh, sorry. What were you saying?”

Initially taken aback by the apology, Gavin continues, “Ah, I was just indicating this particular collection, sir. The Vav perfume is relatively new to our store, but it is one of my personal favorites.”

The man nods slowly but doesn’t say anything in return. Instead, he looks pointedly at the sample smelling sticks and Gavin clues into what he wants. Unboxing the V-shaped bottle, Gavin squeezes a small amount onto the paper before handing it to the man.

“You seem to know a lot about perfume,” the man says absently after giving the paper an appreciative sniff.

_All right!_ Gavin’s had enough of this. “And is there something bloody wrong about that?”

Clearly stunned by the sudden outburst, the man only stutters out, “No, I just-I mean. That’s good. It’s just odd seeing a man working in this department.”

“So what exactly are you trying to imply, sir?” Gavin raged.

“Nothing! Nothing. I am just stating it’s odd.” He tried to placate the younger man. Blue eyes squinting, he caught the name embossed into the shining nametag. “Gavin!”

At the sound of his name, Gavin paused. The man continued. “I’m sorry. I think I must have upset you.”

_He doesn’t even bloody know._

“But I am very grateful for your help. I don’t know a single thing about perfume. You seem to have a good nose for picking out the right product.”

_And already with the nose jokes?!_

“You mean you don’t come here every month to get your bribe to grovel before your _partner_.” Gavin snapped back, stressing the last word.

“Haha, no,” the man chuckles, ignorant of the venom laced in the other half of the conversation. “This is my first time in this mall. Honestly, this place is a little too fancy for me.”

“Hmpf. Of course, this place is too low class for you I assume, sir?” Gavin stung back, the ‘sir’ coming out particularly cutting. In his haze of anger, the British man had misinterpreted what the other man was saying. 

An innocently confused look overtakes the customer. “Quite the opposite.” Bright blue eyes briefly scan his surrounding, taking in the opulence of the shining counters and neat clothes racks. After spying the Men’s department in a far off corner on the floor, a realization dawns on the gentleman. “Oh, you must be referring to my suit! Ha, I rarely wear this thing! I’d much rather be in a good pair of jeans and a comfy blue shirt. It’s seems I’ve made a different first impression from who I actually am.”

The other man set whatever smelling sticks he was holding onto on the counter and held a strong hand out to the clerk. “Let’s start over. I’m Ryan Haywood.” The smile accompanying the proffered hand was gentle and sweet, reaching to crinkle around the man’s eyes. 

Gavin stared at the hand as if it were alien. Was this ‘Ryan Haywood’ trying to be nice now? Why the change? Employee etiquette dictated that Gavin was required to accept the handshake, much to his displeasure. After gripping Ryan’s hand, Gavin only offered a brief shake before quickly disengaging. The other man’s hand was large and slightly calloused, but warm. But Gavin was much too furious to notice.

Automatically, Gavin responds, “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Ryan.”

Gavin stared questioningly at the man, unsure of what he meant. “Call me Ryan.”

“Mr. Haywood,” Gavin said firmly, refusing to stoop to that level of familiarity. 

“Ryan.” The other reminded gently.

“Nice to meet you, Ryan,” Gavin ground out. 

Ryan beamed. “And it’s nice to meet you. Gavin? Right?”

“Yes.” Gavin felt no inclination to reveal his last name to the man. Ryan, however, seemed unbothered and continued to be strangely friendly.

“If it weren’t for Lindsay, I would never have stepped foot into here. She recommended talking to you.”

_Curious_. Gavin felt a sense of flattery fighting the flames of irritation towards this Ryan character. He was admittedly charming. All friendly grins and jovial chattiness. And curse those good looks. 

“I was honestly a bit, I don’t know, nervous to talk to you. Being a country boy from Georgia and all, I honestly have no notion about perfume. And then you start talking in this British accent and I-” Ryan abruptly cuts himself off, a faint blush threatening to stain his cheeks. “Safe to say I didn’t know what to say at first.”

Gavin wasn’t buying any of this small town boy act. Fine. If he’s going to play the down-to-earth gentleman, Gavin would just put him to the test. “Is that your excuse for how you greeted me?”

It took a moment for Ryan to reflect on what Gavin was referring to, but when he remembered, Ryan’s face dropped in utter guilt. “Oh no! I really regretted what I said there! Honestly, I was even surprised that you even bothered to continue working with me instead of just kicking me out the store! I’m so incredibly sorry! My brain just doesn’t process what comes out of my mouth fast enough! I’m a well-known word flubber and it’s gotten me in trouble in the past.” Ryan continued to babble, the worried look never leaving his face as he sought forgiveness.

Agh, it was really hard to stay angry at this man. He genuinely seemed nice, a bit dorky admittedly, but perhaps not as bad as Gavin had initially painted him out to be. As Gavin began losing fuel for his fury, Ryan just seemed to grow more flustered, realizing how misconstrued his first impression had truly been.

“Who were you referring to when you were mumbling about some ‘him’ bloke? These obviously aren’t for you!” Gavin tried to hold his end of the argument, refusing to believe the gentility of this Ryan man.  
“Oh goodness, you heard that?! I promise you I’m here for a friend! He needs a gift for his wife, something to surprise her with.”

“And he sent you?” Gavin accused.

Ryan shrugged sheepishly. “I suppose.”

Gavin was losing ground; he didn’t have any more ammunition to fire at the other man. “So how did this friend of yours convince you to go for him?” It was a weak inquiry at best, but maybe some dirt would stick to whatever answer this man has to offer.  
“I mean, he and I are good friends in the first place, so I would do him a favor regardless,” Ryan answers blandly. It wasn’t the answer Gavin was hoping for, but suddenly Ryan became much more animated, “But then he went ahead and tried to blackmail me. As if I wouldn’t help.”

As Ryan huffed angrily, Gavin’s curiosity grew. “Oh, blackmail you say?”

Rather reluctantly, Ryan elaborates, “It was just that one time. One time.” Eventually Ryan’s explanation devolved into mere muttering, but Gavin knew he was onto something.

“I’m sorry, I can’t quite hear you,” Gavin pries knowingly. 

Exasperated, Ryan explains, “So there was this one time, when I used to drink, my old drinking buddies and I were in Georgia. It was an accident, but there was a hole and a cow involved and that just evolved into a never ending, running joke.”  
At first, neither men knew what to say next. Gavin just blinked blindly at the man in front of him, who tried to look as nonplus as possible for revealing one of his darkest secrets. 

“Bwahahaha!” Gavin barked out a laugh. In fact, he was laughing so hard tears started to well at the corner of his eyes, grin split wide across and cheeks hurting. “A cow? And a hole?!” It sounded so absurd!

Ryan just grinned, half ashamed, half pride, “The cow’s name is Edgar.”

Gavin burst back into laughter, eventually gasping for breath and wiping tears from his cheeks. Ryan had also joined Gavin with soft chuckling.

In this new light, Gavin noticed that, although luscious as his hair may be, Ryan’s hair looked mussed with a firm hand running through it all day. Despite the brilliant grin Ryan faced Gavin with, there was a tired look to him, classic result from a long work day. His jacket, although perfectly fitted and highlighting those broad shoulders of his, didn’t hold the same crispness as a fresh suit. Same could be said of those black slacks that sat way too comfortably on slim hips, the press lines fading from the day’s use and new wrinkles in the process of forming. Despite all these minutiae defacing the look of a high-end businessman, Gavin couldn’t help but see a golden halo surrounding this man. Maybe that was just the store’s less than shining yellow lighting, but the glow just fit Ryan so well. 

Maybe this man wasn’t so bad.

“All right, you have me convinced. Tell me then, Mad King Ryan, what does an ‘ordinary’ guy like you do in his free time?”

Ryan suddenly had a very guilty look on his face. “You can’t tell anyone,” his tone funnily serious.

Gavin nodded, grin widening. He knew this was going to be good.

“I’m actually pretty into gaming. My friends say I’m a helpless techie, but I really like working with PCs. It’s my main choice for gaming.” Ryan looked pitifully mortified at this admission. “Someone my age shouldn’t be playing games, but I just haven’t been able to grow out of them.”

When taking a moment to evaluate Gavin’s response, Ryan found the young man jaw-dropped and eyes wide. Of course the handsome British lad would find it weird for a working man to be sitting in front of a screen playing games.  
“NO WAY!” Gavin exclaimed, his whole demeanor bursting with excitement. “You’re a gamer, too?!” A kindred soul at last! Like anyone finding a fellow member of the same hobby and interests, Gavin couldn’t even contain his joy at this latest discovery. “I’m a bit of a PC gamer myself, but mostly console. Wait, do you play console? Xbox?”

Ryan smiled back tentatively, relieved that the other man had so openly accepted his not so age-appropriate hobby. “Uh yeah. Gamertag is BM Vagabond, but my Gamerscore is woefully low.”

Gavin just laughed back, “Don’t even get me started; mine is probably more abysmal than yours. My fellow lads say I’m a terrible gamer, but I have mad skills at Peggle!”

Lucky that Gavin wasn’t one of those gamers that needs to be impressed by high scores, Ryan only chuckled at Gavin’s joking. “Well, maybe I’ll just need to see these skills myself. What’s your gamertag?”

“GavinoFree.” Gavin replied proudly. “Here, I’ll write it down.” 

“I’ve been in this suit all day after going to a board meeting. Needed to get this done today for Jon, though. You know him? Jon Risinger?” Ryan asked, loosening his stiff, starch collar as Gavin wrote down his gamertag on a spare sniffing stick.

“Wait, you mean THE Jon Risinger? From the gameshow On the Spot? I bloody love that show!” Gavin paused, dropping the pen cap on the glass counter.

“Yep, he’s the one! He has anosmia, so he can’t smell anything. He asked me do this favor for him as one of the smell-enabled folks,” Ryan says happily. 

Gavin, however, looked properly abashed while handing his gaming information to Ryan. Making all these wild assumptions only for it to turn out to be something so innocent. He couldn’t let Ryan leave thinking he didn’t like him, “I guess I need to apologize.”  
Ryan gave him an adorably quizzical look. “What for?”

“I got the wrong impression from you and was acting pretty rude.” Gavin avoided looking at the other man. He had made a complete ass out of himself. 

Ryan looked rather sheepish at this apology, knowing denying it wasn’t the right move. Instead, the man replied, “No worries. Well, I just hope I made a good second impression.” 

The forgiveness was shocking to the say the least, although it was Ryan. If anything, Ryan had proven to him that this man was genuine. Thinking that dwelling on the incident would simply result in more awkwardness, Gavin flashed a cheeky smile himself. “Well then. Is there anything I can get you then, Ryan?”

Ryan’s smile wilted momentarily, but returned as he pointed at the V-shaped bottle still sitting on the countertop. “I quite liked that one.”

At the notion of his favorite perfume being chosen, Gavin giddily acquiesced to Ryan’s request, pulling a new box from behind the counter. Noticing Gavin’s bright smile, Ryan’s only grew as he watched the other man begin bagging the item and ringing it up. Ryan paid using the cash given to him from Jon, but lingered a moment after having his bag passed to him.

Gavin looked to Ryan, slightly curious as to why he was still standing in front of him. “Is there something else I can help you with, love?”

At the British pet name, Ryan startled. Another slow blush threatened to heat his cheeks as he fumbled in his pocket for a moment. “Ah, just this,” he said, pulling out a small business card before handing to Gavin. “Uh, maybe we can grab lunch, or dinner, or drinks? Or lunch? Wait, I just said that. Uh-well, my number is on the card. Or games! We can do the gaming thing.” God, he was bad at this.

During his rushed words, Ryan had ended up looking abashedly down at his shoes. Risking a look up, Gavin was only nodding dumbly. Relieved, Ryan flashed one last charming grin before beginning to head out. “Well, thank you again, Gavin. I’ll, uh- talk to you later.”

Gavin felt a familiar giddiness return –a common theme around Ryan already- along with an odd fluttering in his chest as the man began to walk away. For a moment, Gavin just stood star struck, eyes following Ryan’s retreating form. 

After Ryan disappeared from view, Gavin finally looked at the business card handed to him. It was heavy stock and the ink shined on the rough surface.

HAYWOOD DAIRIES INC.  
RYAN HAYWOOD  
CEO/FOUNDER  
PHONE: (***)-126-8069 

Bullocking hell! He’s the president of Haywood Dairies! How did I not notice?! Why didn’t he say anything?

Gavin would need to thoroughly discuss this with Ryan when they next meet up. Wow, he could see this man again. The elation of the thought brought back warmth to his cheeks. Despite their rough introduction, Gavin hoped Ryan would stop in again in the future, or maybe even make a date to hang out.

The miniature argument had drawn the attention of Lindsay, who hovered near the back of the counter. When Gavin looked over his shoulder at the woman, she only smiled obnoxiously.

“What do you want?” Gavin said, blush negating the effect of the weak glare he tried to direct as his annoying co-worker.

“Nothing. You two are just cute,” she says, much too merry. 

Gavin’s blush just deepened further before reverently slipping Ryan’s card into his wallet. He was definitely calling the Gent over for bevs one day.


End file.
